The East West Railway Company (the Authority) is responsible for the delivery of East West Rail (EWR), a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project providing new and upgraded rail links between Oxford, Milton Keynes, Bedford and Cambridge. EWR Co. is responsible for leading the development, procurement and commissioning of the railway.
The Authority is undertaking a procurement for an Integration, Technical, Operations, Assurance and Environmental (ITOAE) Partner to support the development and delivery of the EWR programme.
Overview of the Intended Contract.
The Authority is appointing a single ITOAE Partner under an NEC4 Professional Service Contract, operated as a term appointment, for a period of up to twelve (12) years, with value-for-money breakpoints at Years 3, 6 and 9. The ITOAE Partner is a single contract: it is not a framework and it is not divided into lots. Services comprise a continuous Core Services baseline across all five pillars (Integration; Technical; Operations; Assurance; and Environmental & Consents), with time-bound Authorised Services instructed as required.
Relationship with the CSF and main works.
The Authority is separately procuring a Client Support Framework (CSF). The Authority's position is that the ITOAE Partner will be structurally separated from the CSF and from the main works: the appointed ITOAE Partner will not be eligible to be awarded a main works contract or a place on the CSF for the duration of the ITOAE contract. The purpose of this separation is to protect the independence of integration and assurance, to mitigate real or perceived conflicts of interest, and to align with independent review findings on major programme governance (including the Stewart Review, 2025).
Conditions of Participation.
The conditions of participation are summarised in the Participation section of this notice and will be assessed, with full detail and scoring, in the Pre-Selection Questionnaire (PSQ) issued at the selection stage, in accordance with the Procurement Act 2023 and the Procurement Regulations 2024.
Indicative Scope of Services.
At this stage, the Authority has defined the high-level scope of services. These are expected to include, by pillar:
Integration: support EWR's Prime System Integrator role; develop and maintain the System Integration Strategy and Master Integration Schedule; identify, manage and resolve technical, organisational and contractual interfaces; configuration control and change alignment; migration and transition planning; coordinate integration with Network Rail, TOCs/FOCs, DfT, ORR and adjacent programmes; manage integration risks and assumptions; coordinate systems integration testing and proving; and uplift EWR's integration capability.
Technical: define and maintain technical frameworks, standards and design principles; provide independent technical challenge and assurance of design; support the Client's Design Authority; systems engineering (SEMP, requirements, MBSE); manage technical interfaces; digital integration (BIM / ISO 19650, Digital Spine); testing, validation and Entry Into Service readiness; capability to act as Lead Design Organisation (LDO) under NR/L2/RSE/02009 for specified areas; design maturity assessment at PACE reviews; legislation and standards management; safety cases (EN 50126/50128/50129) and Independent Safety Assessment coordination; and whole-life asset management (ISO 55000).
Operations: support the Concept of Operations and Maintenance; train plan and timetable development and modelling; operational performance modelling; rolling stock (BEMU) and depot support; route compatibility and certification; Trial Running and Trial Operations; operational readiness and Entry Into Service; staff competence and route learning; and integration with Train Operators and the future Infrastructure Manager (Network Rail / GBR).
Assurance: provide independent, programme-level (second-line / LOD2) assurance across all pillars; define and implement the assurance framework and schedule; coordinate design, technical and construction assurance; authorisation and certification strategies; submit evidence to regulators; track assurance actions to closure; provide a Construction Quality capability under NR/L2/RSE/02009; support GMPP reporting to DfT and NISTA; maintain the Integrated Assurance & Approvals Strategy; and assure ISO 19650, CDE and Digital Spine compliance.
Environmental & Consents: coordinate the environmental and consents strategy; manage post-DCO consents and approvals; assure environmental compliance and commitments; lead carbon and sustainability (PAS 2080, BREEAM); support NPSNN compliance; manage DCO commitments and Requirements discharge; maintain the Environmental Statement and monitoring; support Biodiversity Net Gain; set and audit the Code of Construction Practice / LEMP standard; and coordinate statutory pollution, noise and species consents and licensing.
This procurement will be run concurrently with others. Bidders may tender for any or all of the Lots/Contracts identified in the table shown in document ‘ITOAE - Appendix A - Package Bidding and Award Constraints’. This approach is intended to support market participation and allow bidders to put forward appropriate delivery solutions.
However, submitting tenders for multiple Lots/Contracts across the Procurements does not mean a bidder will be eligible to be awarded all Lots/Contracts. Award decisions will be subject to the Lot/Contract interaction rules set out in the letter, which are intended to:
• Maintain independence between assurance, management and delivery functions.
• Avoid conflicts of interest.
• Prevent excessive concentration of specialist services within a single organisation.
• Preserve effective commercial oversight.
• Ensure suppliers have sufficient capacity and capability to successfully deliver awarded contracts.
Please ensure you refer to the document ‘ITOAE - Appendix A - Package Bidding and Award Constraints’ or further detail.
